A GIANT new cruise ship will be based in Southampton from 2015 - bringing with it a £50m boost to the local economy.

Royal Caribbean International's Anthem of the Seas will come to the city when it is launched in 2015, further cementing Southampton's place as Europe's premier of cruise port.

Over 80,000 people will holiday on the ship, embarking in Southampton, in 2015 alone and this is expected to deliver around £50 million in knock-on economic impacts to the surrounding area.

The 167,800 tonne vessel, which is currently being built in the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenberg, Germany, provides accomodation for 4,180-guest.

Adam Goldstein, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International, explains: “Our business has a long history with the port of Southampton, and over the last ten years we have annually increased the number of cruise opportunities from the port. We are eyeing more growth with the introduction of the new ship Anthem of the Seas in 2015. Our commitment to providing unrivalled holiday experiences on-board the world’s most advanced and activity-packed ships is unwavering.”

At a cost of €170,000 per berth, Anthem of the Seas is also one of the most architecturally and technologically advanced ships ever built. It will replace Royal Caribbean International’s 3,634-guest Independence of the Seas which has sailed from Southampton since its launch in 2008.

At the time, Independence of the Seas was the largest cruise ship in the world.

In 2012 1.7 million Brits took a cruise, and more than 1.5 million international holidaymakers started or ended their cruise in Southampton making it Europe’s largest embarkation or debarkation port.

Independent research states that each guest embarking on a cruise spends an average of £90 per person in the surrounding area in shops, hotels, restaurants and local attractions.

Royal Carribbean claim that for every sailing offered, Anthem of the Seas will bring around 500 more people to Southampton than Independence of Seas, meaning an annual boost of £900,000 for the Southampton economy and UK cruise industry as a whole.

Anthem of the Seas is 348 meters long, 41 meters wide and has 16 guest decks. This is almost the equivalent in length of 32 London buses, 3½ football pitches, or nearly five of the world’s largest passenger aeroplane, the A380.

For Royal Caribbean International the new Anthem of the Seas is one of four new ships currently on its order books as the business continues its on-going expansion.

A further ship built to the same specifications as Anthem of the Seas- called Quantum of the Seas - will enter service in autumn 2014 offering its first sailing from Southampton and then sailing from New York.

In mid-2016, a third Oasis class ship will join existing ships Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

A video of Quantum of the Seas, which is built to the same specification as Anthem of the Seas